Wearable satellite receiver with reduced power consumption

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for determining a location of a wearable electronic device are disclosed. In some aspects, the device includes a position acquisition device and an accelerometer. A hardware processor included in the device may be configured to generally maintain the position acquisition device in a low power state to save power. When a video or image is captured, it may tag the video or image with first location information. Given the inoperative position acquisition device, a current location may not be known. In some aspects, in response to a need for location information, measurements from an accelerometer may be stored. The position acquisition device may also be transitioned to an operative state, and after some time delay, a second location determined. In some aspects, the location of the capture may then be obtained based on the acceleration measurements and the second location.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/143,008, filed Sep. 26, 2018, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/587,205, filed Nov. 16, 2017 and entitled“WEARABLE SATELLITE RECEIVER WITH REDUCED POWER CONSUMPTION.” Thecontents of these prior applications are considered part of thisapplication, and are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Wearable devices have several design constraints. One of theseconstraints is weight, and another is size. To reduce size and weight, awearable device may make use of a relatively small battery. As a result,power consumption of the wearable device can be an important factor inuser satisfaction. Therefore, reducing power consumption in wearabledevices continues to be an important design consideration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various ones of the appended drawings merely illustrate exampleembodiments of the present disclosure and should not be considered aslimiting its scope.

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of one embodiment of a camera device,according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system includingdetails of a camera device, according to some example embodiments.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate wearable devices including transmissioncomponents, according to certain example embodiments.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of how a combination of an accelerometer and asatellite receiver may be utilized to obtain location data, according tosome example embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for determining a location of a mobiledevice, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method for determining a first location of amobile device, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a continuation of process 700 discussed above with respect toFIG. 7, according to some example embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a softwarearchitecture that may be installed on a machine, according to someexample embodiments.

FIG. 10 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in theform of a computer system within which a set of instructions may beexecuted for causing the machine to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments of the inventive subject matter. It will be evident,however, to those skilled in the art, that embodiments of the inventivesubject matter may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

Disclosed are methods, devices, systems, and computer readable storagemedia for providing location information in a wearable device withreduced power consumption. Mobile devices may capture photos or videos.In some aspects, the mobile devices will tag the photos or videos withlocation information, indicating a location where the photo or video wascaptured. To obtain the location information, the device may be equippedwith a satellite receiver. To obtain location information, a satellitereceiver consumes power. In some cases, a satellite receiver may need toreceive and process signals from at least three separate satellitesbefore it may determine a location of the mobile device. Sincetraditional devices are not able to anticipate when a photo or video maybe captured, and thus when location information may be needed, thesedevices may continually operate their satellite receiver, so thatlocation information is always available. Upon capturing the video orphoto, the video or photo may then be tagged with the locationinformation. While this provides a reliable mechanism to accurately tagphotos or videos with location information when captured, it does so atthe expense of battery power. In wearable devices, battery capacity maybe relatively small to reduce size and/or weight and/or cost of thewearable device. Thus, this continuous use of a satellite receiver toprovide infrequently needed location information may not provide theuser with the best tradeoff between location services and other utilityavailable from their mobile device, especially if the battery power oftheir mobile device is frequently depleted due to operation of thesatellite receiver.

To reduce battery consumption of a satellite receiver, the disclosedmethods and systems generally configure the satellite receiver to be ina low power state, such as an off state. In this state, the satellitereceiver is unable to provide location information. Because thesatellite receiver is generally in an off state however, there may be adelay before location information may be obtained. For example, afterthe satellite receiver is transitioned to an “on” state, it may requireat least several seconds for the satellite receiver to determine alocation of the wearable or mobile device. During this time, theposition of the mobile device may change. To track changes in locationfrom the time location information is needed (for example, when a photoor video is captured) until a satellite receiver can determine alocation after being transitioned from a low power state, the disclosedmethods and devices may maintain a record of data collected from anaccelerometer. For example, the accelerometer may record accelerationsin at least three axis (X, Y, and Z) at least between the time thelocation information is needed and the satellite receiver is able toprovide location information. Using this recorded acceleration data,once the location is available from the satellite receiver, a previouslocation may be determined based on the location provided by thesatellite receiver and the stored accelerometer measurements. Bycalculating a location for the mobile device at a time in the past, thesatellite receiver may acquire a fix and provide location informationonly when the location information is needed. Thus, it is not necessaryin the disclosed embodiments to continuously operate a satellitereceiver such that location information is ready on demand. As such,needless acquisition of location information by the satellite receiveris reduced, significantly reducing an amount of power consumed by thesatellite receiver.

FIG. 1 shows aspects of certain embodiments illustrated by a frontperspective view of glasses 31. The glasses 31 can include a frame 32made from any suitable material such as plastic or metal, including anysuitable shape memory alloy. The frame 32 can have a front piece 33 thatcan include a first or left lens, display or optical element holder 36and a second or right lens, display or optical element holder 37connected by a bridge 38. The front piece 33 additionally includes aleft end portion 41 and a right end portion 42. A first or left opticalelement 43 and a second or right optical element 44 can be providedwithin respective left and right optical element holders 36, 37. Each ofthe optical elements 43, 44 can be a lens, a display, a display assemblyor a combination of the foregoing. Any of the display assembliesdisclosed herein can be provided in the glasses 31.

Frame 32 additionally includes a left arm or temple piece 46 and asecond arm or temple piece 47 coupled to the respective left and rightend portions 41, 42 of the front piece 33 by any suitable means such asa hinge (not shown), so as to be coupled to the front piece 33, orrigidly or fixably secured to the front piece so as to be integral withthe front piece 33. Each of the temple pieces 46 and 47 can include afirst portion 51 that is coupled to the respective end portion 41 or 42of the front piece 33 and any suitable second portion 52 for coupling tothe ear of the user. In one embodiment the front piece 33 can be formedfrom a single piece of material, so as to have a unitary or integralconstruction. In one embodiment, such as illustrated in FIG. 1, theentire frame 32 can be formed from a single piece of material so as tohave a unitary or integral construction.

Glasses 31 can include a computing device, such as computer 61, whichcan be of any suitable type so as to be carried by the frame 32 and, inone embodiment of a suitable size and shape, so as to be at leastpartially disposed in one of the temple pieces 46 and 47. In oneembodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the computer 61 is sized andshaped similar to the size and shape of one of the temple pieces 46, 47and is thus disposed almost entirely if not entirely within thestructure and confines of such temple pieces 46 and 47. In oneembodiment, the computer 61 can be disposed in both of the temple pieces46, 47. The computer 61 can include one or more processors with memory,wireless communication circuitry, and a power source. As describedabove, the computer 61 comprises low-power circuitry, high-speedcircuitry, and a display processor. Various other embodiments mayinclude these elements in different configurations or integratedtogether in different ways. Additional details of aspects of computer 61may be implemented as illustrated by device 210 discussed below.

The computer 61 additionally includes a battery 62 or other suitableportable power supply. In one embodiment, the battery 62 is disposed inone of the temple pieces 46 or 47. In the glasses 31 shown in FIG. 1 thebattery 62 is shown as being disposed in left temple piece 46 andelectrically coupled using connection 74 to the remainder of thecomputer 61 disposed in the right temple piece 47. The one or more inputand output devices can include a connector or port (not shown) suitablefor charging a battery 62 accessible from the outside of frame 32, awireless receiver, transmitter or transceiver (not shown) or acombination of such devices. In various embodiments, the computer 61 andthe battery 62 may consume power as part of glasses operations forcapturing images, transmitting data, or performing other computingprocesses. Such power consumption may result in heat that may impact thedevice as well as a user wearing the device. Embodiments describedherein may function to manage temperature in wearable devices such asglasses 31.

Glasses 31 include cameras 69. Although two cameras are depicted, otherembodiments contemplate the use of a single or additional (i.e., morethan two) cameras. In various embodiments, glasses 31 may include anynumber of input sensors or peripheral devices in addition to cameras 69.Front piece 33 is provided with an outward facing, forward-facing orfront or outer surface 66 that faces forward or away from the user whenthe glasses 31 are mounted on the face of the user, and an oppositeinward-facing, rearward-facing or rear or inner surface 67 that facesthe face of the user when the glasses 31 are mounted on the face of theuser. Such sensors can include inwardly-facing video sensors or digitalimaging modules such as cameras that can be mounted on or providedwithin the inner surface 67 of the front piece 33 or elsewhere on theframe 32 so as to be facing the user, and outwardly-facing video sensorsor digital imaging modules such as cameras 69 that can be mounted on orprovided with the outer surface 66 of the front piece 33 or elsewhere onthe frame 32 so as to be facing away from the user. Such sensors,peripheral devices or peripherals can additionally include biometricsensors, location sensors, or any other such sensors.

Embodiments of this disclosure may provide for reduced power consumptionof the computer 61. For example, in some aspects, the computer 61 mayinclude a satellite receiver. The satellite receiver may consume powerwhen acquiring signals from satellites and determining locationinformation for the glasses 31. While the location information providedby the satellite receiver may be useful to tag videos or images capturedby the cameras 69, continuously powering the satellite receiver in anoperative state may be disadvantageous for battery life of the glasses31. Therefore, the embodiments of this disclosure provide formaintaining the satellite receiver in a lower power state to conservebattery power, while still providing location services to tag videos andor snapshot images captured by the cameras 69.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a networked system 200 includingdetails of a device 210, according to some example embodiments. Incertain embodiments, device 210 may be implemented in glasses 31 of FIG.1 described above. For example, device 210 may be equivalent, in someaspects, to the computer 61.

System 200 includes device 210, client device 290, and server system298. Client device 290 may be a smartphone, tablet, phablet, laptopcomputer, access point, or any other such device capable of connectingwith device 210 using both a low-power wireless connection 225 and ahigh-speed wireless connection 237. Client device 290 is connected toserver system 298 and network 295. The network 295 may include anycombination of wired and wireless connections. Server system 298 may beone or more computing devices as part of a service or network computingsystem. Client device 290 and any elements of server system 298 andnetwork 295 may be implemented using details of software architecture902 or machine 1000 described in FIGS. 9 and 10.

System 200 may optionally include additional peripheral device elements219 and/or a display 211 integrated with device 210. Such peripheraldevice elements 219 may include biometric sensors, additional sensors,or display elements integrated with device 210. Examples of peripheraldevice elements 219 are discussed further with respect to FIGS. 9 and10. For example, peripheral device elements 219 may include any I/Ocomponents 1050 including output components, 1052 motion components1058, or any other such elements described herein. Example embodimentsof a display 211 are discussed in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Device 210 includes an accelerometer 215, camera 214, video processor212, interface 216, satellite receiver 217 or more generally a positionacquisition device, which may use non-satellite means to acquire aposition, low-power circuitry 220, and high-speed circuitry 230. Camera214 includes digital camera elements such as a charge coupled device, alens, or any other light capturing elements that may be used to capturedata as part of camera 214. In some aspects, the camera 214 may be thecamera 69, discussed above with respect to FIG. 1. While theaccelerometer 215 is shown in FIG. 2 as being included within the device210, in some aspects, the accelerometer 215 may be a separate device,and be operably connected, for example, via a communications bus orother interconnect technology, to the device 210. Similarly, while thesatellite receiver is shown in FIG. 2 as integrated within the device210, in some aspects, it may be a separate device, and be operablyconnected, for example, via a communications bus or other interconnecttechnology, to the device 210.

Interface 216 refers to any source of a user command that is provided todevice 210. In one implementation, interface 216 is a physical button ona camera that, when depressed, sends a user input signal from interface216 to low power processor 222. A depression of such a camera buttonfollowed by an immediate release may be processed by low power processor222 as a request to capture a single image. A depression of such acamera button for a first period of time may be processed by low-powerprocessor 222 as a request to capture video data while the button isdepressed, and to cease video capture when the button is released, withthe video captured while the button was depressed stored as a singlevideo file. In certain embodiments, the low-power processor 222 may havea threshold time period between the press of a button and a release,such as 500 milliseconds or one second, below which the button press andrelease is processed as an image request, and above which the buttonpress and release is interpreted as a video request. The low powerprocessor 222 may make this determination while the video processor 212is booting. In other embodiments, the interface 216 may be anymechanical switch or physical interface capable of accepting user inputsassociated with a request for data from the camera 214. In otherembodiments, the interface 216 may have a software component, or may beassociated with a command received wirelessly from another source.

Satellite receiver 217 may implement a low power state and a higherpower state. In the low power state, the satellite receiver may becompletely off, and consume no power, or may be in a stand by state, andconsume some first amount of power. In the low power state, thesatellite receiver 217 may be unable to determine a location of thedevice 210. In the higher power state, the satellite receiver 217 may beoperable to determine location information. For example, in someaspects, the satellite receiver 217 may be a global positioning systemreceiver. In some aspects, the satellite receiver 217 may receivesignals from three or more satellites in order to triangulate thesignals and determine a present location on the earth's surface.

Video processor 212 includes circuitry to receive signals from thecamera 214 and process those signals from the camera 214 into a formatsuitable for storage in the memory 234. Video processor 212 isstructured within device 210 such that it may be powered on and bootedunder the control of low-power circuitry 220. Video processor 212 mayadditionally be powered down by low-power circuitry 220. Depending onvarious power design elements associated with video processor 212, videoprocessor 212 may still consume a small amount of power even when it isin an off state. This power will, however, be negligible compared to thepower used by video processor 212 when it is in an on state, and willalso have a negligible impact on battery life. As described herein,device elements in an “off” state are still configured within a devicesuch that low-power processor 222 is able to power on and power down thedevices. A device that is referred to as “off” or “powered down” duringoperation of device 210 does not necessarily consume zero power due toleakage or other aspects of a system design.

In one example embodiment, video processor 212 comprises amicroprocessor integrated circuit (IC) customized for processing sensordata from camera 214, along with volatile memory used by themicroprocessor to operate. In order to reduce the amount of time thatvideo processor 212 takes when powering on to processing data, anon-volatile read only memory (ROM) may be integrated on the IC withinstructions for operating or booting the video processor 212. This ROMmay be minimized to match a minimum size needed to provide basicfunctionality for gathering sensor data from camera 214, such that noextra functionality that would cause delays in boot time are present.The ROM may be configured with direct memory access (DMA) to thevolatile memory of the microprocessor of video processor 212. DMA allowsmemory-to-memory transfer of data from the ROM to system memory of thevideo processor 212 independently of operation of a main controller ofvideo processor 212. Providing DMA to this boot ROM further reduces theamount of time from power on of the video processor 212 until sensordata from the camera 214 can be processed and stored. In certainembodiments, minimal processing of the camera signal from the camera 214is performed by the video processor 212, and additional processing maybe performed by applications operating on the client device 290 orserver system 298.

Low-power circuitry 220 includes low-power processor 222 and low-powerwireless circuitry 224. These elements of low-power circuitry 220 may beimplemented as separate elements or may be implemented on a single IC aspart of a system on a single chip. Low-power processor 222 includeslogic for managing the other elements of the device 210. As describedabove, for example, low power processor 222 may accept user inputsignals from an interface 216. Low-power processor 222 may also beconfigured to receive input signals or instruction communications fromclient device 290 via low-power wireless connection 225. Additionaldetails related to such instructions are described further below.Low-power wireless circuitry 224 includes circuit elements forimplementing a low-power wireless communication system. Bluetooth™Smart, also known as Bluetooth™ low energy, is one standardimplementation of a low power wireless communication system that may beused to implement low-power wireless circuitry 224. In otherembodiments, other low power communication systems may be used.

High-speed circuitry 230 includes high-speed processor 232, memory 234,and high-speed wireless circuitry 236. High-speed processor 232 may beany processor capable of managing high-speed communications andoperation of any general computing system needed for device 210. Highspeed processor 232 includes processing resources needed for managinghigh-speed data transfers on high-speed wireless connection 237 usinghigh-speed wireless circuitry 236. In certain embodiments, thehigh-speed processor 232 executes an operating system such as a LINUXoperating system or other such operating system such as operating system904 of FIG. 9. In addition to any other responsibilities, the high-speedprocessor 232 executing a software architecture for the device 210 isused to manage data transfers with high-speed wireless circuitry 236. Incertain embodiments, high-speed wireless circuitry 236 is configured toimplement Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.11communication standards, also referred to herein as Wi-Fi. In otherembodiments, other high-speed communications standards may beimplemented by high-speed wireless circuitry 236.

Memory 234 includes any storage device capable of storing camera datagenerated by the camera 214 and video processor 212. While memory 234 isshown as integrated with high-speed circuitry 230, in other embodiments,memory 234 may be an independent standalone element of the device 210.In certain such embodiments, electrical routing lines may provide aconnection through a chip that includes the high-speed processor 232from the video processor 212 or low-power processor 222 to the memory234. In other embodiments, the high-speed processor 232 may manageaddressing of memory 234 such that the low-power processor 222 will bootthe high-speed processor 232 any time that a read or write operationinvolving memory 234 is needed.

Embodiments of the device 210 may provide for reduced power consumptionwhen compared to existing solutions. In some aspects, the device 210 maycapture image data and tag the image data with location informationindicating a location where the capture occurred. These embodiments maynot maintain the satellite receiver in a state such that it is alwaysable to obtain location information. Instead, the satellite receiver maybe kept in a low power state to reduce power consumption of the device210. In response to a need for location information, the satellitereceiver 217 may be transitioned out of the low power state into ahigher power or operative state, such that the satellite receiver mayobtain location information. However, between the time that the imagedata is captured and the satellite receiver is able to obtain a “fix”from signals received from satellites, the mobile device may have movedfrom a first location to a second location. However, it is still;desirable to tag the captured image data with location informationindicating the first location, and not the second location. Toretrospectively determine the first location, the disclosed embodimentsmay combine information from the accelerometer 215 with locationinformation obtained from the satellite receiver 217 to determine thefirst location, as discussed in more detail below.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate two embodiments of glasses which includedisplay systems. In various different embodiments, such display systemsmay be integrated with the camera devices discussed above, or may beimplemented as wearable devices without an integrated camera. Inembodiments without a camera, power conservation systems and methodscontinue to operate for the display system and other such systems in amanner similar to what is described above for the video processor anddata transfer elements of the camera devices.

FIG. 3 illustrates glasses 361 having an integrated display 211. Theglasses 361 can be of any suitable type, including glasses 31, and likereference numerals have been used to describe like components of glasses361 and 31. For simplicity, only a portion of the glasses 361 are shownin FIG. 3. Headwear or glasses 361 can optionally include left and rightoptical lenses 362, 563 secured within respective left and right opticalelement holders 36, 37. The glasses 361 can additionally include anysuitable left and right optical elements or assemblies 366, which can besimilar to any of the optical elements or assemblies discussed hereinincluding optical elements 43, 44 of glasses 31. Although only oneoptical assembly 366 is shown in FIG. 3, it is appreciated that anoptical assembly 366 can be provided for both eyes of the user.

In one embodiment, the optical assembly 366 includes any suitabledisplay matrix 367. Such a display matrix 367 can be of any suitabletype, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light-emittingdiode (OLED) display, or any other such display. The optical assembly366 also includes an optical layer or layers 368, which can be includelenses, optical coatings, prisms, mirrors, waveguides, and other opticalcomponents in any combination. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3,the optical layer 368 is a prism having a suitable size andconfiguration and including a first surface 371 for receiving light fromdisplay matrix 367 and a second surface 372 for emitting light to theeye of the user. The prism extends over all or at least a portion of theoptical element holder 36, 37 so to permit the user to see the secondsurface 372 of the prism when the eye of the user is viewing through thecorresponding optical element holder 36. The first surface 371 facesupwardly from the frame 32 and the display matrix 367 overlies the prismso that photons and light emitted by the display matrix 367 impinge thefirst surface 371. The prism is sized and shaped so that the light isrefracted within the prism and is directed towards the eye of the userby the second surface 372. In this regard, the second surface 372 can beconvex so as to direct the light towards the center of the eye. Theprism can optionally be sized and shaped so as to magnify the imageprojected by the display matrix 367, and the light travels through theprism so that the image viewed from the second surface 372 is larger inone or more dimensions than the image emitted from the display matrix367.

Glasses 361 can include any suitable computing system, including any ofthe computing devices disclosed herein, such as computer 61, 210 ormachine 1000. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, computer 376 powered by asuitable rechargeable battery (not shown), which can be similar tobattery 62, is provided. Computer 376 can receive a data stream from oneor more image sensors 377, which may be similar to camera 69, or thecamera 214, with image sensors 377 positioned such that the image sensor377 senses the same scene as an eye of a wearer of glasses 361.Additional sensors, such as outwardly-facing geometry sensor 378, can beused for any suitable purpose, including the scanning and capturing ofthree-dimensional geometry that may be used by computer 376 with datafrom image sensors 377 to provide information via digital display matrix367.

Computer 376 may be implemented using the processor elements of thedevice 210, including video processor 212, high-speed circuitry 230, andlow-power circuitry 220. Computer 376 may additionally include anycircuitry needed to power and process information for display matrix367, which may be similar to display 211. In certain embodiments, videoprocessor 212 or high-speed processor 232 may include circuitry to drivedisplay matrix 367. In other embodiments, separate display circuitry maybe integrated with the other elements of computer 376 to enablepresentation of images on display matrix 367.

In various embodiments, the computer 376 may include an accelerometer,such as accelerometer 215. In some embodiments, the computer 376 mayinclude a satellite receiver, such as satellite receiver 217. Thedisclosed embodiments may function to reduce power consumption of thecomputer 376 and/or the satellite receiver.

FIG. 4 illustrates another example embodiment, shown as glasses 491,having another implementation of a display. Just as with glasses 361,glasses 491 can be of any suitable type, including glasses 31, andreference numerals have again been used to describe like components ofglasses 491 and 361. Glasses 491 include optical lenses 492 securedwithin each of the left and right optical element holders 36, 37. Thelens 492 has a front surface 493 and an opposite rear surface 494. Theleft and right end portions 41, 42 of the frame front piece 33 caninclude respective left and right frame extensions 496, 497 that extendrearward from the respective end portions 41, 42. Left and right templepieces 46, 47 are provided, and can either be fixedly secured torespective frame extensions 496, 497 or removably attachable to therespective frame extensions 496, 497. In one embodiment, any suitableconnector mechanism 498 is provided for securing the temple pieces 46,47 to the respective frame extension 496, 497.

Glasses 491 includes computer 401, and just as with computer 376,computer 401 may be implemented using the processor elements of device210, including video processor 212, high-speed circuitry 230, andlow-power circuitry 220, and computer 401 may additionally include anycircuitry needed to power and process information for the integrateddisplay elements.

Sensors 402 include one or more cameras, which may be similar to camera214 and/or other digital sensors that face outward, away from the user.The data feeds from these sensors 402 go to computer 401. In theembodiment of FIG. 4 the computer 401 is disposed within the firstportion 51 of right temple piece 47, although the computer 401 could bedisposed elsewhere in alternative embodiments. In the embodiment of FIG.4, right temple piece 47 includes removable cover section 403 for accessto computer 401 or other electronic components of glasses 491.

Glasses 491 include optical elements or assemblies 405, which may besimilar to any other optical elements or assemblies described herein.One optical assembly 405 is shown, but in other embodiments, opticalassemblies may be provided for both eyes of a user. Optical assembly 405includes laser projector 407, which is a three-color laser projectorusing a scanning mirror or galvanometer. During operation, an opticalsource such as a laser projector is disposed in one of the arms ortemples of the glasses, and is shown in right temple piece 47 of glasses491. The computer 401 connects to the laser projector 407. The opticalassembly 605 includes one or more optical strips 411. The optical strips411 are spaced apart across the width of lens 492, as illustrated bylens 492 in right optical element holder 37 of FIG. 4. In otherembodiments, the optical strips 411 may be spaced apart across a depthof the lens 492 between the front surface 493 and the rear surface 494of lens 492 as shown in the partial view of lens 492 in the top cornerof FIG. 4.

During operation, computer 401 sends data to laser projector 407. Aplurality of light paths 412 are depicted, showing the paths ofrespective photons emitted by the laser projector 407. The path arrowsillustrate how lenses or other optical elements direct the photons onpaths 412 that take the photons from the laser projector 407 to the lens492. As the photons then travel across the lens 492, the photonsencounter a series of optical strips 411. When a particular photonencounters a particular optical strip 411, it is either redirectedtowards the user's eye, or it passes to the next optical strip 411.Specific photons or beams of light may be controlled by a combination ofmodulation of laser projector 407 and modulation of optical strips 411.Optical strips 411 may, in certain embodiments, be controlled throughmechanical, acoustic, or electromagnetic signals initiated by computer401.

In one example implementation of the optical strips 411, each strip 411can use Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal to be opaque or transparent ata given instant of time, per software command from computer 401. In adifferent example implementation of the optical strips 411, each opticalstrip 411 can have a specific wavelength of light that it redirectstoward the user, passing all the other wavelengths through to the nextoptical strip 411. In a different example implementation of the opticalstrips 411, each strip 411 can have certain regions of the strip 411that cause redirection with other regions passing light, and the laserprojector 407 can use high precision steering of the light beams totarget the photons at the desired region of the particular intendedoptical strip 411.

In the embodiment of lens 492 illustrated in the top left of FIG. 4,optical strips 411 are disposed in and spaced apart along the width of afirst layer 416 of the lens 492, which is secured in a suitable mannerto a second layer 417 of the lens 492. In one embodiment, the frontsurface 493 is formed by the second layer 417 and the rear surface 494is formed by the first layer 416. The second layer 417 can be providedwith reflective coatings on at least a portion of the surfaces thereofso that the laser light bounces off such surfaces so as to travel alongthe layer 417 until the light encounters a strip 411 provided in thefirst layer 416, and is either redirected towards the eye of the user orcontinues on to the next strip 411 in the manner discussed above.

In various embodiments, the computer 401 may include a satellitereceiver, such as the satellite receiver 217, discussed above withrespect to FIG. 2. The satellite receiver and/or computer 401 mayconsume power as part of glasses 491 operations for acquiring a locationof the glasses 491, for example, when tagging a captured image or videowith location information. Embodiments described herein may function toreduce power consumption of the computer 401 and/or satellite receiver217 in wearable devices such as glasses 491.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of how a combination of an accelerometer and asatellite receiver may be utilized to obtain location data. For ease ofillustration, FIG. 5 illustrates the use of an accelerometer and asatellite receiver to obtain two dimensional location data over twodimensions represented by an X and Y axis. However, the processillustrated by FIG. 5 may be easily extended to three dimensions withoutdeparting from the contemplated embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates an initial location 502. A mobile device may bepositioned at location 502 when a request for location data is received.The request may be initiated by, for example, a photo or videoapplication that seeks to tag the video or photo with locationinformation. However, when the request is received, the mobile devicemay have its satellite receiver in a low power state, such that themobile device is unaware of its present location at location 502. Afterthe request for location data is received by the mobile device, themobile device may change the state of its satellite receiver to a higherpower state, such that the satellite receiver may determine a positionof the mobile device. However, the satellite receiver may requireseveral seconds or longer to transition from its low power state to astate where it has determined a present location of the mobile device.

Upon receiving the request for location data at location 502, the mobiledevice may also record measurements from an on-board accelerometer.These measurements are graphically illustrated over the two dimensionalspace of FIG. 5 by points 504 a-n. The points 504 a-n may be recordedover a time period. At the end of the time period, the satellitereceiver may provide a current location of the mobile device 506. Thedisclosed embodiments may determine the coordinates of the location 502based on the location 506 and the acceleration measurements 5504 a-n.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for determining a location of adevice. In some aspects, the device may be a mobile or portable device.In some aspects, the device may be a phone. In some aspects, one or moreof the functions discussed below with respect to FIG. 6 may be performedby one or more of the computer 61, computer 376, computer 401, and/orthe device 210. In some aspects, the process 600 discussed below may beperformed by the low power processor 222. A device executing process 600may be referred to below as the “executing device.”

In block 610, a satellite receiver is put into a low power state. Forexample, in some aspects, block 610 may turn off all power to thesatellite receiver. In some other aspects, the satellite receiver may beplaced in a stand by state, where some power may be consumed by thesatellite receiver, but the satellite receiver is unable to determine apresent location. In some aspects, the satellite receiver may be thesatellite receiver 217, discussed above with respect to FIG. 2.

In block 620, input is received indicating a request for a firstlocation of the executing device. In some aspects, block 620 may processa command to capture an image, for example, using a camera of a wearabledevice, such as the glasses discussed above with respect to any of FIGS.1-4. The command may be initiated by a user depressing a button, whichmay be one embodiment of the interface 216. The command to capture animage may also include a command to record a location of the wearabledevice at a time when the image is captured. For example, the wearabledevice may, in some aspects, include configurable settings. One of theconfigurable settings may indicate whether location information is to becaptured and stored when an image is captured and stored.

Thus, the request for the first location may be a result of the commandthat includes the request for the location. In some aspects, thelocation may be stored as meta-data in a file storing the capturedimage.

The first location may correspond to a location of the executing devicewhen the request is received. Since the satellite receiver is in the lowpower state, as described above with respect to block 610, a currentlocation of the executing device cannot be obtained from the satellitereceiver at the time the input is received in block 620. In someaspects, process 600 includes capturing a photo or video with aexecuting device and attempting to tag the photo or video with locationdata indicating the location of the executing device. The attempt to tagmay generate the input of block 620.

In block 630, the satellite receiver is requested to provide locationinformation. Block 630 may include transitioning the satellite receiverfrom the low power state of block 630 to a higher power state. Thehigher power state may be a state that allows the satellite receiver toreceive signals from one or more satellites, and is further able tocompute a present location based on the received signals.

Upon entering the higher power state, the satellite receiver may begin aprocess of establishing a position “fix” based on the received signals.Obtaining a fix may require several seconds or longer. For example,depending on a quality of satellite signal reception, achieving aposition “fix” could require anywhere between one (1) second and ninety(90) seconds in some aspects. In some conditions, a fix could require aneven longer period of time.

In block 640, an accelerometer is activated. In some aspects, theaccelerometer may remain activated at all times and thus in some aspectsblock 640 may not be performed. In other aspects, the accelerometer maybe transitioned from an inactive state, which may consume a lower amountof power, to an active state, which may consume more power than theinactive state. In some aspects, a polling rate or measurement rate ofthe accelerometer may be more frequent in the active state than in theinactive state.

In block 650, an acceleration measurement is received from theaccelerometer. In some aspects, the acceleration measurement includesaccelerations in three dimensions, such as an X, Y, and Z direction. Theaccelerations may include both positive and negative values.

In block 660, the acceleration measurement received in block 650 isstored to a non-transitory data store. For example, the accelerationmeasurement may be stored to a memory buffer or a hard disk. In someaspects, the acceleration measurement may be stored using an imageprocessor (e.g., 212). As discussed further below, some image processorsmay be equipped with storage capacity that is unused, and thus may beused as a secondary storage device.

Decision block 670 determines whether a second location is availablefrom the satellite receiver. In other words, decision block 670determines whether the satellite receiver has been able to obtain a“fix”, which will provide present location data for the executingdevice.

If the fix has been obtained, the second location information isavailable. If so, process 600 moves to block 680, which determines thefirst location based on the second location and the stored accelerationmeasurements. Note that the executing device was present at the firstlocation prior to collection of the stored acceleration measurements anddetermination of the executing device's position at the second location.In some aspects, the first location and an image are written to a file.The file may be written to an output device, such as a network card,(e.g. the file included in a network packet transmitted onto thenetwork), or a stable storage device (e.g., a hard disk or memory disk).

If the fix has not yet been obtained, the second location information isnot yet available. In this case, process 600 moves from decision block670 to block 650, which receives an additional acceleration measurementfrom the accelerometer. In some aspects, the transition from block 670to block 650 may include a waiting period of at least a predefinedduration. This may avoid too frequent “polling” of the accelerometer fornew measurement information, which would needlessly consume power.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method for determining a first location of adevice. In some aspects, the device is a mobile device. In some aspects,the device is a phone. In some aspects, one or more of the functionsdiscussed below with respect to FIG. 7 may be performed by one or moreof the computer 61, computer 376, computer 401, and/or the device 210.In some aspects, one or more of the functions discussed below withrespect to FIG. 7 and process 700 may be performed by the low powerprocessor 222. While the description of process 700 below indicatesfunctions performed by a low power network processor, in some otheraspects, these functions may instead be performed by an image processor,such as the image processor 212. In some aspects, the image processor212 may be an Ambarella® (AMBA) processor.

In block 710, a low power network processor receives input requestingcapture of an image. For example, in some aspects, the interface 216 mayreceive input, for example, via a button press on a mobile device, thatan image, either a snapshot image or a video, is to be captured with thecamera 214. The input may be passed from the interface 216 to the lowpower processor 222 in some aspects.

In block 720, the low power network processor transmits a request to avideo processor to begin image capture. The image capture may be for asnapshot (single) image or for a video. For example, in some aspects,the low power processor 222 may send a request to the image processor212 to capture one or more images with the camera 214. At the time theimage capture process begins, the device performing process 700(“executing device”) is positioned at the first location.

In block 730, the low power network processor transmits a request to asatellite receiver (e.g., 217) to obtain second location information.The second location information may indicate a different location thanthe first location, depending on movement of the executing devicebetween the time the image capture process starts/ends and a later timewhen a position fix is obtained by a satellite receiver, as discussedfurther below.

Prior to the start of process 700, the satellite receiver may be in alow power state, such that it is unable to acquire a fix or otherwiseobtain location information. Block 730 may cause the satellite receiverto begin a process to receive satellite signals and establish a currentposition. Thus, block 730 may move the satellite receiver from a lower(e.g. inoperative for establishing location information) power state toa higher (e.g. operative to establish location) state. In some aspects,the low power processor 222 may send the request to the satellitereceiver 217. Some period of time may be required before the satellitereceiver is able to determine position information after being requiredto move out of the low power state. While the present disclosure uses asatellite receiver as an example of a positioning determining device, invarious aspects, other types of positioning devices may be employed byvarious embodiments. For example, some positioning devices may not relyon satellites, but may instead rely on signals from cell phone towers,other wireless devices, or even an image of a sky and a time of year.

In block 740, the low power network processor receives an indicationthat the image capture is complete. In some aspects, the low powernetwork processor 222 may receive an indication from the image processor212 that a snapshot capture or video capture (e.g. whatever type ofcapture was requested in block 720) has finished. This completion may bein response to a command from a user, such as a button press.Alternatively, the completion may be a result of a single image captureprocess being completed. In some aspects, the low power networkprocessor may also receive an identifier from the video processorindicating a location of the captured image data. For example, in someaspects, the video processor 212 may indicate a location in the memory234 that stores the captured image data. In some aspects, thisindication may take the form of a file identifier for a file systemimplemented in the memory 234. In some aspects, the low power networkprocessor may store the file identifier in a local memory or cache ofthe low power network processor.

In block 750, the low power network processor commands the videoprocessor to enter a low power state or to turn off. Since the imagecapture is complete (per block 740), there is no longer a need toconsume additional power with the video processor. In some aspects, thelow power processor 222 sends the command to the video processor 212. Insome aspects, block 750 is in response to the reception of theindication in block 740. After block 750, process 700 transitionsthrough off-page reference “A”, and is discussed further below withrespect to FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 is a continuation of process 700 discussed above with respect toFIG. 7. In block 760, an acceleration measurement is obtained from anaccelerometer. The measurement may be stored in a memory in block 760.In some aspects, the low power network processor 222 may store themeasurement in an on board cache. In decision block 770, process 700determines whether the satellite receiver has been able to obtain aposition fix. If not, processing returns to block 760 and anotheracceleration measurement may be stored. In some aspects, an additionalwait block may occur between decision block 750 and 760. This mayprevent too frequent polling of the accelerometer and/or collection ofaccelerometer data.

Some aspects of block 760 may include sending a command to the imageprocessor to turn on and storing one or more accelerometer measurements.For example, in some aspects, a total storage necessary to store theaccelerometer measurements of multiple iterations of block 760 mayexceed a local storage capacity of the low power network processor. Inthese aspects, the low power network processor may utilize an imageprocessor as a secondary storage device. After the portion ofaccelerometer measurements are transferred to the image processor forpersistent storage, the low power network processor may command theimage processor to turn itself off to save power. Thus, process 700 mayiteratively collect acceleration measurements at a defined frequency,such as once per millisecond, once per microsecond, or otherperiodicity. This collection of measurements may be stored so as totrack motion of the executing device until the position determinationdevice (e.g. satellite receiver 217) has been able to obtain a currentposition, as discussed below.

If the satellite receiver has obtained a position fix, then process 700moves from decision block 770 to block 780. The low power networkprocessor may receive the position fix or location information from thesatellite receiver, and store it in a local cache in some aspects. Insome aspects, the low power network processor may then transfer thelocation information, accelerometer measurement data, and the capturedimage data over a network to a host, or in other words, anothercomputer, in block 780. For example, the other computer may have accessto more computing resources and/or power resources, and thus thecomputations necessary to compute a location tag for the image data maybe performed at the other computer without consuming the power necessaryon the mobile device performing process 700. In some other aspects,block 770 may command the image processor 212 to determine the firstlocation based on the location information obtained from the satellitereceiver, and the acceleration measurements. The image processor 212 mayalso tag the captured image data with the determined first locationinformation.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram 900 illustrating an architecture of softwarearchitecture 902, which can be installed on any one or more of thedevices described above. FIG. 9 is merely a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture, and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures can be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. In various embodiments, the software architecture 902is implemented by hardware such as computer 61, device 210, computer376, and/or computer 401 of FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. In someaspects, the software 902 may be executed by a machine 1000 of FIG. 10,discussed below. The software architecture 902 may include a stack oflayers where each layer may provide a particular functionality. Forexample, the software architecture 902 may include one or more layerssuch as an operating system 904, libraries 906, frameworks 908, andapplications 910. Operationally, the applications 910 invoke applicationprogramming interface (API) calls 912 through the software stack andreceive messages 914 in response to the API calls 912, consistent withsome embodiments. In various embodiments, any client device 290, servercomputer of a server system 298, or any other device described hereinmay operate using elements of software architecture 902. Devices such asthe device 210 may additionally be implemented using aspects of softwarearchitecture 902, with the architecture adapted for operating usinglow-power circuitry (e.g., low-power circuitry 220) and high-speedcircuitry (e.g., high-speed circuitry 230) as described herein.

In various implementations, the operating system 904 manages hardwareresources and provides common services. The operating system 904includes, for example, a kernel 920, services 922, and drivers 924. Thekernel 920 acts as an abstraction layer between the hardware and theother software layers consistent with some embodiments. For example, thekernel 920 provides memory management, processor management (e.g.,scheduling), component management, networking, and security settings,among other functionality. The services 922 can provide other commonservices for the other software layers. The drivers 924 are responsiblefor controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware, accordingto some embodiments. For instance, the drivers 924 can include displaydrivers, camera drivers, BLUETOOTH® or BLUETOOTH® Low Energy drivers,flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers (e.g., UniversalSerial Bus (USB) drivers), WI-FI® drivers, audio drivers, powermanagement drivers, and so forth. In certain implementations of a devicesuch as the device 210, low-power circuitry may operate using drivers924 that only contain BLUETOOTH® Low Energy drivers and basic logic formanaging communications and controlling other devices, with otherdrivers operating with high-speed circuitry.

In some embodiments, the libraries 906 provide a low-level commoninfrastructure utilized by the applications 910. The libraries 906 caninclude system libraries 930 (e.g., C standard library) that can providefunctions such as memory allocation functions, string manipulationfunctions, mathematic functions, and the like. In addition, thelibraries 906 can include API libraries 932 such as media libraries(e.g., libraries to support presentation and manipulation of variousmedia formats such as Moving Picture Experts Group-4 (MPEG4), AdvancedVideo Coding (H.264 or AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 (MP3),Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) audio codec,Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG or JPG), or Portable NetworkGraphics (PNG)), graphics libraries (e.g., an OpenGL framework used torender in two dimensions (2D) and three dimensions (3D) in a graphiccontent on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite to providevarious relational database functions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit toprovide web browsing functionality), and the like. The libraries 906 canalso include a wide variety of other libraries 934 to provide many otherAPIs to the applications 910.

The frameworks 908 provide a high-level common infrastructure that canbe utilized by the applications 910, according to some embodiments. Forexample, the frameworks 908 provide various graphic user interface (GUI)functions, high-level resource management, high-level location services,and so forth. The frameworks 908 can provide a broad spectrum of otherAPIs that can be utilized by the applications 910, some of which may bespecific to a particular operating system or platform.

In an example embodiment, the applications 910 may include a homeapplication 950, a contacts application 952, a browser application 954,a location application 958, a media application 960, a messagingapplication 962, and a broad assortment of other applications such as athird party application 966. According to some embodiments, theapplications 910 are programs that execute functions defined in theprograms. Various programming languages can be employed to create one ormore of the applications 910, structured in a variety of manners, suchas object-oriented programming languages (e.g., Objective-C, Java, orC++) or procedural programming languages (e.g., C or assembly language).In a specific example, the third party application 966 (e.g., anapplication developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software developmentkit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform)may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such asIOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or another mobile operating systems. Inthis example, the third party application 966 can invoke the API calls912 provided by the operating system 904 to facilitate functionalitydescribed herein.

Embodiments described herein may particularly interact with satellitereceiver management application 967. Such an application 967 mayinteract with motion component 1058 and/or position component 1062,discussed below with respect to FIG. 10, to provide location informationwhile managing power consumption, as discussed above, for example, withrespect to any of FIGS. 5-8.

The software architecture of FIG. 9 illustrates an example architecturethat may be implemented in some embodiments by a wearable deviceexecuting a mobile operating system (e.g., IOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS®Phone, or other mobile operating systems), consistent with someembodiments. In one embodiment, the wearable device detects touch inputsfrom the user via the information provided by an acceleration sensor orinertial measurement unit.

FIG. 10 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine 1000 in theexample form of a computer system, within which instructions 1016 (e.g.,software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or otherexecutable code) for causing the machine 1000 to perform any one or moreof the methodologies discussed herein can be executed. In alternativeembodiments, the machine 1000 operates as a standalone device or can becoupled (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment,the machine 1000 may operate in the capacity of a server machine or aclient machine in a server-client network environment, or as a peermachine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. Themachine 1000 can comprise, but not be limited to, a server computer, aclient computer, a personal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptopcomputer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant(PDA), an entertainment media system, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a mobile device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch), a smarthome device (e.g., a smart appliance), other smart devices, a webappliance, a network router, a network switch, a network bridge, or anymachine capable of executing the instructions 1016, sequentially orotherwise, that specify actions to be taken by the machine 1000.Further, while only a single machine 1000 is illustrated, the term“machine” shall also be taken to include a collection of machines 1000that individually or jointly execute the instructions 1016 to performany one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

In various embodiments, the machine 1000 comprises processors 1010,memory 1030, and I/O components 1050, which can be configured tocommunicate with each other via a bus 1002. In an example embodiment,the processors 1010 (e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a ReducedInstruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a Complex Instruction SetComputing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a DigitalSignal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC), a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), another processor,or any suitable combination thereof) include, for example, a processor1012 and a processor 1014 that may execute the instructions 1016. Theterm “processor” is intended to include multi-core processors that maycomprise two or more independent processors (also referred to as“cores”) that can execute instructions contemporaneously. Although FIG.10 shows multiple processors 1010, the machine 1000 may include a singleprocessor with a single core, a single processor with multiple cores(e.g., a multi-core processor), multiple processors with a single core,multiple processors with multiples cores, or any combination thereof.

The memory 1030 comprises a main memory 1032, a static memory 1034, anda storage unit 1036 accessible to the processors 1010 via the bus 1002,according to some embodiments. The storage unit 1036 can include amachine-readable medium 1038 on which are stored the instructions 1016embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. The instructions 1016 can also reside, completely or at leastpartially, within the main memory 1032, within the static memory 1034,within at least one of the processors 1010 (e.g., within the processor'scache memory), or any suitable combination thereof, during executionthereof by the machine 1000. Accordingly, in various embodiments, themain memory 1032, the static memory 1034, and the processors 1010 areconsidered machine-readable media 1038.

As used herein, the term “memory” refers to a machine-readable medium1038 able to store data temporarily or permanently and may be taken toinclude, but not be limited to, random-access memory (RAM), read-onlymemory (ROM), buffer memory, flash memory, and cache memory. While themachine-readable medium 1038 is shown in an example embodiment to be asingle medium, the term “machine-readable medium” should be taken toinclude a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized ordistributed database, or associated caches and servers) able to storethe instructions 1016. The term “machine-readable medium” shall also betaken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media, that iscapable of storing instructions (e.g., instructions 1016) for executionby a machine (e.g., machine 1000), such that the instructions, whenexecuted by one or more processors of the machine 1000 (e.g., processors1010), cause the machine 1000 to perform any one or more of themethodologies described herein. Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium”refers to a single storage apparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based”storage systems or storage networks that include multiple storageapparatus or devices. The term “machine-readable medium” shallaccordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, one or more datarepositories in the form of a solid-state memory (e.g., flash memory),an optical medium, a magnetic medium, other non-volatile memory (e.g.,Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM)), or any suitablecombination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium” specificallyexcludes non-statutory signals per se.

The I/O components 1050 include a wide variety of components to receiveinput, provide output, produce output, transmit information, exchangeinformation, capture measurements, and so on. In general, it will beappreciated that the I/O components 1050 can include many othercomponents that are not shown in FIG. 10. The I/O components 1050 aregrouped according to functionality merely for simplifying the followingdiscussion, and the grouping is in no way limiting. In various exampleembodiments, the I/O components 1050 include output components 1052 andinput components 1054. The output components 1052 include visualcomponents (e.g., a display such as a plasma display panel (PDP), alight emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD), aprojector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acoustic components (e.g.,speakers), haptic components (e.g., a vibratory motor), other signalgenerators, and so forth. The input components 1054 include alphanumericinput components (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstruments), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and force of touches or touch gestures, orother tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In some further example embodiments, the I/O components 1050 includebiometric components 1056, motion components 1058, environmentalcomponents 1060, or position components 1062, among a wide array ofother components. For example, the biometric components 1056 includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 1058 includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components 1060 include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensor components(e.g., machine olfaction detection sensors, gas detection sensors todetect concentrations of hazardous gases for safety or to measurepollutants in the atmosphere), or other components that may provideindications, measurements, or signals corresponding to a surroundingphysical environment. The environmental components, such as thetemperature sensor components that detect ambient temperature, may beutilized to manage the temperature of electronic components discussedherein.

The position components 1062 include location sensor components (e.g., aGlobal Positioning System (GPS) receiver component), altitude sensorcomponents (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detect air pressure fromwhich altitude may be derived), orientation sensor components (e.g.,magnetometers), and the like.

Communication can be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1050 may include communication components 1064operable to couple the machine 1000 to a network 1080 or devices 1070via a coupling 1082 and a coupling 1072, respectively. For example, thecommunication components 1064 include a network interface component oranother suitable device to interface with the network 1080. In furtherexamples, communication components 1064 include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, BLUETOOTH®components (e.g., BLUETOOTH® Low Energy), WI-FI® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1070 may be another machine or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)). As discussed above, in some aspects, the disclosedmethods and systems may manage the transmission bandwidth of one or moreof the wireless components (e.g. WiFi) and/or Bluetooth components inorder to control an operating temperature of a device, such as thedevice 1000. In some aspects, the communication components 1064 includedthe low power circuitry 220 and/or high speed circuitry 230.

In some embodiments, the communication components 1064 detectidentifiers or include components operable to detect identifiers. Forexample, the communication components 1064 include Radio FrequencyIdentification (RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detectioncomponents, optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detecta one-dimensional bar codes such as a Universal Product Code (UPC) barcode, multi-dimensional bar codes such as a Quick Response (QR) code,Aztec Code, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code,Uniform Commercial Code Reduced Space Symbology (UCC RSS)-2D bar codes,and other optical codes), acoustic detection components (e.g.,microphones to identify tagged audio signals), or any suitablecombination thereof. In addition, a variety of information can bederived via the communication components 1064, such as location viaInternet Protocol (IP) geo-location, location via WI-FI® signaltriangulation, location via detecting an BLUETOOTH® or NFC beacon signalthat may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

Transmission Medium

In various example embodiments, one or more portions of the network 1080can be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS)network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a WI-FI®network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more suchnetworks. For example, the network 1080 or a portion of the network 1080may include a wireless or cellular network, and the coupling 1082 may bea Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System forMobile communications (GSM) connection, or another type of cellular orwireless coupling. In this example, the coupling 1082 can implement anyof a variety of types of data transfer technology, such as SingleCarrier Radio Transmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized(EVDO) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology,Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, thirdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generationwireless (4G) networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability forMicrowave Access (WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, othersdefined by various standard-setting organizations, other long rangeprotocols, or other data transfer technology.

In example embodiments, the instructions 1016 are transmitted orreceived over the network 1080 using a transmission medium via a networkinterface device (e.g., a network interface component included in thecommunication components 1064) and utilizing any one of a number ofwell-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hypertext Transfer Protocol(HTTP)). Similarly, in other example embodiments, the instructions 1016are transmitted or received using a transmission medium via the coupling1072 (e.g., a peer-to-peer coupling) to the devices 1070. The term“transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible mediumthat is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying the instructions 1016for execution by the machine 1000, and includes digital or analogcommunications signals or other intangible media to facilitatecommunication of such software.

Furthermore, the machine-readable medium 1038 is non-transitory (inother words, not having any transitory signals) in that it does notembody a propagating signal. However, labeling the machine-readablemedium 1038 “non-transitory” should not be construed to mean that themedium is incapable of movement; the medium 1038 should be considered asbeing transportable from one physical location to another. Additionally,since the machine-readable medium 1038 is tangible, the medium 1038 maybe considered to be a machine-readable device.

Language

Throughout this specification, plural instances may implementcomponents, operations, or structures described as a single instance.Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustratedand described as separate operations, one or more of the individualoperations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that theoperations be performed in the order illustrated. Structures andfunctionality presented as separate components in example configurationsmay be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,structures and functionality presented as a single component may beimplemented as separate components. These and other variations,modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of thesubject matter herein.

Although an overview of the inventive subject matter has been describedwith reference to specific example embodiments, various modificationsand changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader scope of embodiments of the present disclosure. Such embodimentsof the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein, individuallyor collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience andwithout intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application toany single disclosure or inventive concept if more than one is, in fact,disclosed.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail toenable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed.Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such thatstructural and logical substitutions and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of this disclosure. The Detailed Description,therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope ofvarious embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along withthe full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive orexclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be provided forresources, operations, or structures described herein as a singleinstance. Additionally, boundaries between various resources,operations, modules, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary,and particular operations are illustrated in a context of specificillustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality areenvisioned and may fall within a scope of various embodiments of thepresent disclosure. In general, structures and functionality presentedas separate resources in the example configurations may be implementedas a combined structure or resource. Similarly, structures andfunctionality presented as a single resource may be implemented asseparate resources. These and other variations, modifications,additions, and improvements fall within a scope of embodiments of thepresent disclosure as represented by the appended claims. Thespecification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a numberof components, modules, elements, or mechanisms. Such modules canconstitute either software modules (e.g., code embodied on amachine-readable medium or in a transmission signal) or hardwaremodules. A “hardware module” is a tangible unit capable of performingcertain operations and can be configured or arranged in a certainphysical manner. In various example embodiments, one or more computersystems (e.g., a standalone computer system, a client computer system,or a server computer system) or one or more hardware modules of acomputer system (e.g., a processor or a group of processors) isconfigured by software (e.g., an application or application portion) asa hardware module that operates to perform certain operations asdescribed herein.

In some embodiments, a hardware module is implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware module can include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations. For example, ahardware module can be a special-purpose processor, such as aField-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or an Application SpecificIntegrated Circuit (ASIC). A hardware module may also includeprogrammable logic or circuitry that is temporarily configured bysoftware to perform certain operations. For example, a hardware modulecan include software encompassed within a general-purpose processor orother programmable processor. It will be appreciated that the decisionto implement a hardware module mechanically, in dedicated andpermanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry(e.g., configured by software) can be driven by cost and timeconsiderations.

Accordingly, the phrase “hardware module” should be understood toencompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physicallyconstructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarilyconfigured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner or toperform certain operations described herein. As used herein,“hardware-implemented module” refers to a hardware module. Consideringembodiments in which hardware modules are temporarily configured (e.g.,programmed), each of the hardware modules need not be configured orinstantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where a hardwaremodule comprises a general-purpose processor configured by software tobecome a special-purpose processor, the general-purpose processor may beconfigured as respectively different special-purpose processors (e.g.,comprising different hardware modules) at different times. Software canaccordingly configure a particular processor or processors, for example,to constitute a particular hardware module at one instance of time andto constitute a different hardware module at a different instance oftime.

Hardware modules can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware modules. Accordingly, the described hardwaremodules can be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiplehardware modules exist contemporaneously, communications can be achievedthrough signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses)between or among two or more of the hardware modules. In embodiments inwhich multiple hardware modules are configured or instantiated atdifferent times, communications between such hardware modules may beachieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of informationin memory structures to which the multiple hardware modules have access.For example, one hardware module performs an operation and stores theoutput of that operation in a memory device to which it iscommunicatively coupled. A further hardware module can then, at a latertime, access the memory device to retrieve and process the storedoutput. Hardware modules can also initiate communications with input oroutput devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation).

The various operations of example methods described herein can beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors constitute processor-implemented modulesthat operate to perform one or more operations or functions describedherein. As used herein, “processor-implemented module” refers to ahardware module implemented using one or more processors.

Similarly, the methods described herein can be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method can be performed by one or more processors orprocessor-implemented modules. Moreover, the one or more processors mayalso operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a“cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS).For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a groupof computers (as examples of machines including processors), with theseoperations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and viaone or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an Application ProgramInterface (API)).

The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe processors, not only residing within a single machine, but deployedacross a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the processorsor processor-implemented modules are located in a single geographiclocation (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment, or aserver farm). In other example embodiments, the processors orprocessor-implemented modules are distributed across a number ofgeographic locations.

What is claimed is:
 1. A wearable electronic device, comprising: anaccelerometer; a position acquisition device; a camera; and firsthardware processing circuitry configured to perform operationscomprising: determining, while the position acquisition device is in alow power state in which the position acquisition device is unable toobtain location information and based on a command to capture an imagewith the camera, that a configurable setting indicates that a firstlocation is to be captured and stored in association with a capturedimage; configuring, in response to the configurable setting, theposition acquisition device into an operative state to determine asecond location of the wearable electronic device; activating theaccelerometer in response to determining that the configurable settingindicates that the first location is to be captured and stored inassociation with the captured image; in response to the command tocapture the image and in response to activating the accelerometer,storing acceleration measurements from the accelerometer until at leastthe position acquisition device obtains the second location of thewearable electronic device; and determining the first location based onthe accelerometer measurements and the second location.
 2. The wearableelectronic device of claim 1, further comprising glasses, wherein theoperations further comprise: configuring the position acquisition deviceinto the low power state.
 3. The wearable electronic device of claim 1,wherein the operations further comprise capturing the image with thecamera in response to the command.
 4. The wearable electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the first hardware processing circuitry comprises aBluetooth low energy network processor.
 5. The wearable electronicdevice of claim 1, further comprising a second hardware processingcircuitry, wherein the first hardware processing circuitry is furtherconfigured to perform operations comprising transferring the secondlocation and the stored acceleration measurements to the second hardwareprocessing circuitry.
 6. The wearable electronic device of claim 1,wherein the first hardware processing circuitry is further configured toperform operations comprising: transmitting a message over a network toa device different than the wearable electronic device, the messageindicating the second location.
 7. The wearable electronic device ofclaim 6, wherein the message includes the acceleration measurements. 8.The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein the first hardwareprocessing circuitry is configured to store the accelerationmeasurements using an image processor.
 9. A method comprising:determining, while a position acquisition device is in a low power statein which the position acquisition device is unable to obtain locationinformation and based on a command to capture an image with a camera,that a configurable setting indicates that a first location is to becaptured and stored in association with a captured image; configuring,in response to the configurable setting, the position acquisition deviceinto an operative state to determine a second location of a wearableelectronic device; activating an accelerometer in response todetermining that the configurable setting indicates that the firstlocation is to be captured and stored in association with the capturedimage; in response to the command to capture the image and in responseto activating the accelerometer, storing acceleration measurements fromthe accelerometer until at least the position acquisition device obtainsthe second location of the wearable electronic device; and determiningthe first location based on the accelerometer measurements and thesecond location.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:configuring the position acquisition device into the low power state.11. The method of claim 9, further comprising capturing the image withthe camera in response to the command.
 12. The method of claim 9,wherein first hardware processing circuitry that determines the firstlocation comprises a Bluetooth low energy network processor.
 13. Themethod of claim 9, wherein the first location is determined by firsthardware processing circuitry, further comprising transferring thesecond location and the stored acceleration measurements to secondhardware processing circuitry.
 14. The method of claim 9, furthercomprising: transmitting a message over a network to a device differentthan the wearable electronic device, the message indicating the secondlocation.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the message also includesthe acceleration measurements.
 16. A non-transitory computer readablemedium comprising instructions that when executed configure hardwareprocessing circuitry to perform operations comprising: determining,while a position acquisition device is in a low power state in which theposition acquisition device is unable to obtain location information andbased on a command to capture an image with a camera, that aconfigurable setting indicates that a first location is to be capturedand stored in association with a captured image; configuring, inresponse to the configurable setting, the position acquisition deviceinto an operative state to determine a second location of a wearableelectronic device; activating an accelerometer in response todetermining that the configurable setting indicates that the firstlocation is to be captured and stored in association with the capturedimage; in response to the command to capture the image and in responseto activating the accelerometer, storing acceleration measurements fromthe accelerometer until at least the position acquisition device obtainsthe second location of the wearable electronic device; and determiningthe first location based on the accelerometer measurements and thesecond location.
 17. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 16, wherein the operations further comprise: configuring theposition acquisition device into the low power state.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein theoperations further comprise capturing the image with the camera inresponse to the command.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable mediumof claim 16, the operations further comprising transmitting a messageover a network to a device different than the wearable electronicdevice, the message indicating the second location.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the firsthardware processing circuitry comprises a Bluetooth low energy networkprocessor.